"Things intersect. Even when we were fighting back home, handling the science was always, well, my thing - but even if that was mostly engineering..."

Another bite.

"Terraforming, life support - biology intersects with engineering. Culture's going to intersect with everything else - politics, for instance." Not that they're particularly enjoying being stuck in a room full of politics, but the fact that they're here says it's something they're going to have to worry about. "We don't have time to get too in-depth on everything we come across, but if we can at least manage conversant, that's going to put a lot of things in better context."